CEMETERY GULLY BRIDGE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 13482, 5 July 1907, Page 3

CEMETERY GULLY BRIDGE.

CONSIDERATION OF TENDERS.

FERROCONCRETE STRUCTURE

FAVOURED,

The tenders of Messrs. J. McLean and Sons, "of £51,314 (steel) and Ferro-Con-crete Company of Australasia, of £35,300 (ferro-conerete), we're considered at last night's meeting of the Auckland City Council.

The city engineer reported that personally lie favoured reinforced concrete,, and if the Council decided n that design, he would undertake the responsibility of supervision on ."condition : —(1) That the whole of the, details of design) and construction, including the disposition of the reinforcement, shall bo submitted to him for his approval ; [2) that in order to ensure the successful con-; struction of the bridge,' the shoring, or i centring, must be so designed and erect-: ed as to allow of the perfect construction of the arch ; (3) that while progress payments should he made on those parts of j the structure not included in the main span of 320 ft, no certificate should be given by him or money paid by the Council in respect to that, part of the contract relating to the main arch or its superstructure, until completed and tested ; (4) full working drawings to be submitted for his inspection and approval. He said that apart from the purchase of property, he estimated the bridge could be completed, and the approach from Grafton Road be made, at a total cost of, say, £31,500 in the case of steel, and £34,500 in the. case of the concrete, including disinterment of bodies from the cemetery and salary of resident engineer. In view of the fact that the bridge was not likely to be completed in less than the time specified in the general conditions, viz., two years, and . that 25 percent, of the actual contract, amount would be retained till six months after the completion of the work, it should not be difficult to make financial provision for the necessary extra, expenditure to be incurred. He considered it advisable for the Council to settle before the bridge was commenced whether it would permit tramway traffic across the bridge, and if so, on what terms. The Streets Committee recommended that, subject to the conditions laid down in the city engineer's report, the tender of the ' Ferro-Concrete Company, at £31,918 for the structure; exclusive of kerbing and paving to footways, and,paving to carriage ways, be accepted; schedule prices to the satisfaction of-the,city engineer to be given for asphalt, wood, or concrete, paving to carriage way, asphalt or concrete paving to footway, and concrete or stone kerbing; and that provision be made in the annual estimates during the next three years for the amount required in excess of the loan.

3 STATEMENT BY THE MAYOR, In explainlng'-nlle'-present position, theMayor stated that the scheme originally . submitted to the ratepayers for the buildin<r of a traffic bridge over the Cemetery ' Gully, for Which authority was obtained r to raise a loan of £30,000, had been con- '• siderablv improved since it was first put [ forth. ' The original line of road, instead , of being straight from the-intersection of , Symonds-street and Karangahape Road to [ the intersection of Grafton and Park Roads, . as now proposed, was only 'straight be- - tween the firstuamed point and the inter- . section of Bridge-street and Ligar Place. -, The grade of the original bridge was rrregui lar, starting with a descent, from Symondsstreet of one in 20, then level to Grafton " Road, witih an incline from Grafton Road ■to Park Road of one ill 11; but the pre- , sent scheme provided an even grade of one ,in .74 throughout. This had added to the 5 cost by . raising: the eastern end . of tlhe r bridge some '7ft; 'and- the" centre some 15ft, > the city engineer estimating that this had .' added nearly £1000 to the cost. Another | improvement was that instead of a clear . width of 31ft between parapets, allowing of only one footpath 6ft wide, the clear width had been increased to 36ft, giving a car-riage-way 24ft. wide and two footpaths each , 6ft wide. This had added about £2000 to the cost of the original design. The 5 amount of the contract for a concrete , bridge was £31,918, and, inclusive of ap- [ proaches, was put down at £34,500, to , which might be added, say, £5000 'for the i cost of buildings and land, bringing the > total up to £39,500. He had mentioned improvements in the bridge itself to cost , £3000, but it bad 1 to be borne in mind that , on the conclusion of the work the Council ; would have an asset in the shape of land . and buildings to, the value of ? at least, ' £3000, making a total of £6000. Two factors which had added to the cost, and which would fully account for the extra I amount, were tihat the depth of the foundations would be greater than was at first expected, and that a large increase had taken place in the cost of materials and carting, and incidentally of labour. Cement had advanced! over 20 per cent., steel 12 , per cent., shingle 20 per cent., timber six per cent., team labour 25 per cent., or an , all-round increase, of 15 per "cent., which , on the original estimate of £30,000 reprel sented an increase.of £4500. The original ' estimate of £30,000* placed before the ratepayers was at that time fully justified, the increases in. prices having all 'taken place since Uiie date of the city engineer's report in October, 1306. As "the bridge would ' take fully two years to complete, and as 25 per cent, of the contract price would be retained for six months after completion of the work, the payments for the bridge would consequently be extended over three financial years. In making provision in : the estimates during the next three years • for" the amount required in excess of the loan authorised, the Council would bear in mind the fact tlhat against the extra sum required would be the assets to the value of at least £3000, yearly increasing in i value. With regard to the land below the bridge, extending from Ligar Place down into the Cemetery Gully, containing -an area of one acre .one rood - 36 poles, he suggested that the Council lay it out as . the commencement of a public "park in the - locality. Under the Cemeteries Act, 1882, <, so soon as the Symonds-street cemetery !: was finally closed it became vested in any i corporate body named by Order-in-Councii, c and was thenceforth, to be. maintained in j good order as a public reserve. Thus there would be a public reserve embracing ' a very large portion of the Cemetery Gully } and extending from Symonds-street to ] Ligar Place. ' t RECOMMENDATION ADOPTED. a The Mayor moved the adoption of the . committee's recommendation, and Mr. a Bagnall seconded. a Sir. Smeeton raised the question of the t bridge being used for tramway traffic, and v the Mayor replied that so far the Tramway c Company kid not made any advances on d the subject, in view of which he did not fl think it necessary to consider the point, 'l Personally, he thought it desirable to keep * the tramway traffic away from the vicinity r of the hospital and a district which was v largely residential. „ The motion was carried. ... ....,,,

The Mayor moved to the effect that at present the Council would not permit the bridge to be used) for tramway traffic, but after some discussion he withdrew the motion, regarding it as unnecessary, excepting to acquaint the engineer of the views of .the Council on the matter. ''—AN OBJECTION. A letter was received from Mr. W.

Adams, objecting to the erection of the bridge on the ground that his father, mother, and three brothers ; .were buried in the cemetery, and the effect would be to prevent himself and the members of his family from having free access to the enclosure. " The letter was received.